The tomb of Jules Verne: “Vers l’immortalité et l’éternelle Jeunesse”

The world-famous writer Jules Verne died of diabetes at the age of 77 on March 24, 1905, in Amiens, France, where he was buried in the Cimetière de la Madeleine. Two years after his death, a sculpture entitled “Vers l ‘Immortalité et l’ Eternelle Jeunesse” (Towards immortality and eternal youth) was named after him, positioned on top of his tomb.
Designed and built by sculptor Albert Roze using the writer’s actual death mask, the statue shows the figure of Jules Verne breaking the tomb lid and gloriously emerging from his final resting place.

The sculpture gained enormous fame following the publication on the cover of the first issue of the science fiction magazine “Amazing Stories”, in 1926, where a stylized version heralded one of the stories contained within it, “Measuring a Meridian”, published by Verne himself for the first time in 1874. The science fiction magazine continued to keep the stylized image as a cover element for many many more years, making famous the tomb of the man who is considered one of the fathers of modern science fiction.
The statue of the author, who still today makes millions of people dream with his writings, intends to celebrate his greatness, in a romantic vision that transcends the concept of death and makes the figure of Verne a further breath of eternity.